System and method for managing data in multiple bills of material over a network
First Claim
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1. A system for managing a plurality of bills of material (BOMs) comprising:
- a client terminal accepting information for a particular BOM, the BOM being one of a plurality of BOMS, each BOM describable as a tree with each node an element, each element in each BOM having an owner of a set of more than one owner, and each BOM having an owner of the set of owners, the particular BOM having a particular owner, the client terminal coupled to a network;
a server processing system configured to store the plurality of BOMs, the server processing system coupled to the network such that the client terminal is coupled to the server system via the network; and
wherein the system is configured to provide access to at least some of the information of one or more of the plurality of BOMs to one or more users according to control information, control information for providing access to a particular BOM being received from an entity that is the owner of the particular BOM, or from any entity that the owner of the BOM designates, or from both the entity that is the owner and any entity that the owner of the BOM designates, such that the providing of further access to at least some of the information of a particular BOM is controlled by the entity that is the owner of the particular BOM, or by any entity that the owner of the BOM designates, or by both the entity that is the owner and any entity that the owner of the BOM designates,such that BOMs associated with different owners are stored in the same processing system,wherein for each of at least two different owners, at least one of the BOMs of the respective owner includes confidential information of the owner, such that unrestricted access to the confidential information is limited to the owner of the BOM, or to any entity that the owner of the BOM designates, or to both the owner of the BOM and any entity that the owner of the BOM designates; and
wherein the different owners need not be related except that they each have information stored in the same processing system.
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Abstract
A system for managing a bill of materials includes a data structure having at least one record with a primary key data field, an owner data field for indicating the owner of the record, the owner data field including data representative of one of a plurality of owners, and at least one other data field. In another aspect, the system for managing a bill of materials includes a database having a single namespace, and at least one record with a primary key data field, an owner data field for indicating the owner of the record, the owner data field including data representative of one of a plurality of owners, and at least one other data field.
35 Citations
45 Claims
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1. A system for managing a plurality of bills of material (BOMs) comprising:
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a client terminal accepting information for a particular BOM, the BOM being one of a plurality of BOMS, each BOM describable as a tree with each node an element, each element in each BOM having an owner of a set of more than one owner, and each BOM having an owner of the set of owners, the particular BOM having a particular owner, the client terminal coupled to a network; a server processing system configured to store the plurality of BOMs, the server processing system coupled to the network such that the client terminal is coupled to the server system via the network; and wherein the system is configured to provide access to at least some of the information of one or more of the plurality of BOMs to one or more users according to control information, control information for providing access to a particular BOM being received from an entity that is the owner of the particular BOM, or from any entity that the owner of the BOM designates, or from both the entity that is the owner and any entity that the owner of the BOM designates, such that the providing of further access to at least some of the information of a particular BOM is controlled by the entity that is the owner of the particular BOM, or by any entity that the owner of the BOM designates, or by both the entity that is the owner and any entity that the owner of the BOM designates, such that BOMs associated with different owners are stored in the same processing system, wherein for each of at least two different owners, at least one of the BOMs of the respective owner includes confidential information of the owner, such that unrestricted access to the confidential information is limited to the owner of the BOM, or to any entity that the owner of the BOM designates, or to both the owner of the BOM and any entity that the owner of the BOM designates; and wherein the different owners need not be related except that they each have information stored in the same processing system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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14. A system as recited in claim 5, wherein at least one owner is associated with one or more respective workspaces, each workspace containing data of the database that is associated with the workspace owner, wherein each BOM may belong to a workspace, and wherein each BOM data structure entry includes an indication of the workspace of the BOM.
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15. A system as recited in claim 14, wherein the database includes, for each workspace, a private list of elements associated with the owner of the workspace.
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16. A system as recited in claim 15, wherein each element in a private list of elements includes a reference to a corresponding element in the list of elements, such that the list of elements includes the elements in any private lists of elements, and elements that are in one or more BOMs that are associated with different owners.
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17. A system as recited in claim 15,
wherein each element in a private list of elements includes a unique identifier within the private list of elements and a reference to a corresponding element in the list of elements, such that two elements in two different private lists of elements that refer to the same one element in the list of elements may each have a different unique identifier in the respective private lists. -
18. A system as recited in claim 5, wherein the database includes a list of vendors to provide data related to vendors for one or more elements of the element list.
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19. A system as recited in claim 18, wherein the vendor list includes for one or more of the vendors, vendor identification data including one or more of a vendor name, vendor contact information, and a vendor identification number.
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20. A system as recited in claim 18, wherein the vendor element relations list further includes information about the quantity of each element that the vendor of the element can supply.
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21. A system as recited in claim 18, wherein the database includes a vendor element relations list that includes data relating one or more elements of the element list to one or more corresponding vendors of the vendor list such that the vendor element relations list provides the sourcing relationship between an element in the element list and a vendor in the of vendor list.
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22. A system as recited in claim 21, wherein one or more users may be associated with a vendor in the vendor list, and wherein the system is further configured to a particular user associated with a particular vendor access to information about an element in the element list that is sourced by the particular vendor.
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23. A system as recited in claim 21, wherein the level of access provided to the particular user associated with the particular vendor is set by the owner associated with the particular element or one or more designates of the owner.
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24. A computer implemented method for managing a plurality of bills of material (BOMs) comprising:
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a computer system accepting information for a particular BOM, the computer system being coupled to a network; sending the information over the network to a server processing system also coupled to the network, the server processing system having stored therein a plurality of BOMs, including the particular BOM, each BOM describable as a tree with each node an element, each element in each BOM having an owner of a set of more than one owner, and each BOM having an owner of the set of owners, the particular BOM having a particular owner, the client terminal coupled to a network, the server processing system being configured to provide access to at least some of the information of one or more of the plurality of BOMs to one or more users according to control information, control information for providing access to a particular BOM being received from an entity that is the owner of the particular BOM, or from any entity that the owner of the BOM designates, or from both the entity that is the owner and any entity that the owner of the BOM designates, such that the providing of further access to at least some of the information of a particular BOM is controlled by the entity that is the owner of the particular BOM, or by any entity that the owner of the BOM designates, or by both the entity that is the owner and any entity that the owner of the BOM designates, such that BOMs associated with different owners are stored in the same processing system, wherein for each of at least two different owners, at least one of the BOMs of the respective owner includes confidential information of the owner, such that unrestricted access to the confidential information is limited to the owner of the BOM, or to any entity that the owner of the BOM designates, or to both the owner of the BOM and any entity that the owner of the BOM designates; and wherein the different owners need not be related except that they each have information stored in the same processing system. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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Specification